thebuzz Buzz Bit
MLB Exec Discusses Ferrell’s Preseason Run
6
Image courtesy of MLB.
W
ill Ferrell is click bait, and New Yorkbased Major League Baseball knows it, so when the comedic actor offered to team up with the league to raise money for cancer charities during the preseason, MLB execs bit. Ferrell’s appearances not only would generate ticket sales at spring training games—an ancillary benefit, according to MLB—but also would have legs online, drawing attention to the 2015 MLB season. The focus, though, was on raising money for and awareness of the charities affiliated with the promotion, says Dinn Mann, executive vice president of content for MLB.com, who recently spoke with Marketing News Weekly about Ferrell’s prodigious, if shortlived, run at professional baseball. On March 12, Ferrell visited five MLB spring training ballparks in Arizona, playing all nine baseball positions for 10 different teams: the Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. Ferrell “coached” third base for the Cubs, holding up poster board signs that read, “You are SOOOO handsome,” and, “Remember, these games don’t count.” Memorabilia from Ferrell’s playing time was auctioned off on MLB.com to benefit Temecula, Calif.-based Cancer for College and Los Angeles-based Stand Up to Cancer. The effort raised $1 million for the charities via the auctions and donations. HBO and online comedy platform Funny or Die will chronicle Ferrell’s epic day in an upcoming special dedicated to the fight against cancer, which will air later this summer.
On March 12, 2015, actor Will Ferrell visited five MLB spring training ballparks in Arizona, playing all nine positions for 10 different teams, as part of an MLB fundraising initiative for cancer charities.
The campaign was promoted on Twitter with the hashtag #FerrellTakesTheField and generated 471 million total Twitter impressions, according to MLB. Three tweets paid tribute to three of Ferrell’s movies (Old School, Stepbrothers and Anchorman): a photo of Ferrell eating a hot dog during his game with the Arizona Diamondbacks, captioned, “Once it hits your lips, it’s so good!”; a video of Ferrell arriving via helicopter to one of the games, captioned, “It’s the Catalina Wine
Mixer”; and a tweet from Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester: “Remember, it’s hot out there. Milk would be a bad choice!” Mann explains the origins of the promotion and how MLB made the most of it.
Q
How did the effort come about? Was Will Ferrell paid for his participation?
A
The idea was hatched late last fall, and bringing the
marketing news | May 2015
MN May 2015 1-65-edit-4-22-15.indd 6
4/24/15 2:02 PM
thebuzz
thing together was slightly more complicated than the Catalina Wine Mixer [another reference to Ferrell’s movie, Stepbrothers]. It really started in Will’s camp. He’s passionate about causes related to cancer and he’s the driving force behind Cancer for College. One of Will’s representatives got in touch with us about the possibility of appearing in one of our spring training games. It was a collaboration that started with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and included the teams, the players, the umpires and the fans. Will wasn’t paid. He was interested in lending his name to it because he knew it would lead to money going to the charities involved. He took it very seriously from an athletic standpoint. He trained for a while at a local high school in the Los Angeles area. A little bit of chatter surfaced at the high school, actually. People wondered what baseball movie he was working on. It was fun to see that trickle-down effect of curiosity.
Q
And it was promoted a few days before Will took the field for the pro teams via press releases and social media, right?
A
Yes. There were so many moving parts that we had to let people know, and we didn’t want it to look like a ticket-selling campaign. It wasn’t about driving ticket sales. It was about the causes. It also was intended to be viral in its execution. We tried to keep it under wraps for a while, but then it became necessary to give people the heads-up that not all of the games were being played at the customary time, as a courtesy to fans.
Q
The day was heavily promoted on social media and on MLB.com, with tweets referencing Ferrell’s movies,
a video pep talk between Ferrell and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, and videos of Ferrell playing in the games. How did Ferrell’s star power help to drum up enthusiasm for the start of the baseball season?
A
He’s a hilarious and enormously gifted performer. He’s one of those personalities who appeals to fans of all ages. Every enterprise wants to expand its demographics and stay fresh and be relevant. When I went from venue to venue, I saw lines of kids with their phones out, taking selfies with Will in the background. It was mission accomplished for us because for everyone from older generations to kids who love Elf and his other great movies, seeing him play one position for half an inning was exceptional theater. It went viral because it was authentic. He was in the zone as a performer and it was a treat to watch.
Q
How did you integrate the fundraising element so that it wouldn’t be overshadowed by Ferrell’s pretending to be a big leaguer?
A
We didn’t worry about the fundraising element being overshadowed because it was the reason behind the entire effort. We didn’t want to have the reaction to this be, ‘Why in the heck are they letting a superstar comedian appear in an official capacity on a professional diamond?’ We didn’t want people scratching their heads about that, so the charitable element was important from the beginning. I don’t think the idea would have even happened if there wasn’t a charitable component. Without that, it’s a stunt with no purpose.
Q
How will MLB leverage Ferrell’s Funny or Die/HBO special beyond this initial press
coverage and integrate it with the league’s overall promotional efforts?
A
The best answer to that is to stay tuned. Those discussions have taken place and we’ll talk about how they’ll dovetail into everything else we’re doing. It’s not over. There’s so much that happened that day, behind the scenes. They’re sitting on something that’s going to be very special for HBO, Funny or Die and MLB.
Q
MLB is still one of the most popular sports on TV, but it has seen a drop in ratings over the past few years. How will efforts such as this one pull in larger—and particularly younger—audiences?
A
It’s a fair question, but it’s a little bit of an inaccurate premise because baseball is enormously popular in the digital space and has been for quite some time, and ratings don’t properly reflect that. By every digital measure, baseball’s in fantastic shape, but we’re not in any condition to rest upon that notion. We take it very seriously and you’ll see more activity like this. You’ll see the intersection of entertainment and baseball continue to grow. Baseball is entertainment, and it’s important to stay fresh and tap into the fans who are out there. Some of those fans happen to be famous. The game lends itself to tremendous storytelling, so we’re going to leverage that, and do it in ways that are authentic and engaging. It’s one of the top priorities of our new commissioner. He’s said, from the beginning, that appealing to the youth market is vital.
•org This article originally appeared in Marketing News Weekly. To subscribe, visit AMA.org/Enewsletters.
May 2015 | marketing news
MN May 2015 1-65-edit-4-22-15.indd 7
7
4/24/15 11:03 AM